70% of Brits spending more time with phones and tablets than with humans

A new report from Juniper Networks shows that the magnificent rise of smartphones and tablets might not be all it's cracked up to be.

The company has discovered that 40 per cent of UK consumers believe that laptops are still the most useful electronic devices in existence, despite a multitude of stories over the past year or so claiming otherwise.

Only 22 per cent identified smartphones as the most useful gadgets. However, a separate report recently revealed that 92 per cent of Brits would stress, and 25 per cent would panic, if their smartphone battery died.

Interestingly too is the fact that 45.5 per cent of participants in the survey said that their laptop or tablet is the "most important" device that they own.

Over 90 per cent ranked other devices higher than tablets in terms of usefulness.

Perhaps worryingly, Juniper also reports that 70 per cent of people involved in the report spend more time using smartphones, tablets and PCs than they do chatting face-to-face with family, friends and colleagues.